- CHAD NIELSEN on Monogamy is the Rule, Part 2: Celestial Marriage and Plural Marriage: “You could say the same thing about the polygamy-era quotes too. They were practicing plural marriage and wanted to justify it. What I’m saying here is that distance from the practice allows a different perspective from which we can approach the scriptures, which are ambiguous enough to allow for reinterpretation. In any case, reinterpretation of scriptures and changes in doctrine to adjust to different paradigms and circumstances are a part of any living tradition. I would say that’s one of the most important function of ongoing revelation and inspiration to leaders of the Church.” Nov 27, 21:05
- on Rowdy Children, Judgment, and the Foyer: “My two cents: Be skeptical of your impulse to interpret a fellow congregant’s facial expression as a “dirty look.” Maybe they’re not judging you for bringing your rowdy kids into the foyer. Maybe they’ve had an awful morning, or maybe their face just naturally looks stern.” Nov 27, 18:37
- on Monogamy is the Rule, Part 2: Celestial Marriage and Plural Marriage: “Aren’t those post-polygamy quotes just a complicated way of saying, “I want these scriptures to mean this, so now they do.” It’s a little hard to rationalize a coherent theology when things can just be reinterpreted to more convenient meanings.” Nov 27, 18:20
- on Rowdy Children, Judgment, and the Foyer: “As the oldest of eight children, the father of two, and a 3x nursery worker, I’m with you Stephen. If we wanted our church experience to be free of disruption by children, we’d have Primary during sacrament meeting like everyone else does. President Nelson changed a lot of things about our Sunday services but he didn’t change that, so that’s where any complaints can be directed. (Assuming a good-faith effort by the parents, which you should pretty much always assume. Children vary a lot in their ability to sit still, both between families and within families, so no reliable inferences can be made about parenting quality. Judge not.) A counter-intuitive suggestion, probably for later: Growing up, we sat in the back as you’d expect, until one Sunday morning our parents shocked us by announcing that from then on we’d be sitting right in the front. And it worked–behavior improved overall and the frequency of having to take someone out to the foyer was reduced. For me, that was when I started paying attention to talks, sometimes anyway, because the speaker up close was a real person trying to tell me something. For my younger siblings I suspect it was more about being aware the speaker and everyone else could see what they were doing. Obviously that only works for children past a certain age, but think about it when the time is right. Side notes: Consider John Mansfield’s comment if you’re ever inclined to compare your ward choir with a choir you heard in a different church, or a concert hall. And the cultural hall is where you play basketball–what’s so hard about that?” Nov 27, 07:22
- on Rowdy Children, Judgment, and the Foyer: “Lol, I thought it was just the main meeting area, including the area behind the partition, but as I think about it I guess it just means the area behind the partition not including the chapel. The things you get wrong after decades of membership.” Nov 26, 18:00
- on Rowdy Children, Judgment, and the Foyer: “Stephen, we need to have a serious talk about what part of the building is the cultural hall.” Nov 26, 13:45
- on Rowdy Children, Judgment, and the Foyer: “Not long before the birth of my second child, my ward’s meetings were moved to a Lutheran church down the road while our meetinghouse was renovated. The wonderful acoustics of that Lutheran chapel were a mixed blessing because the noises of my children carried strongly. I and my children spent a fair amount of our sacrament meetings outside on the front steps of that chapel. I had not realized before the advantages of the sound dampening qualities of the Latter-day Saints’ chapels.” Nov 26, 13:41
- on Rowdy Children, Judgment, and the Foyer: “Good job not taking your newborn to church.” Nov 25, 22:46
- on Rowdy Children, Judgment, and the Foyer: “For some added historical context of kids in Sacrament Mtg (although just one person’s experience), my mom’s dad died when she was 1 and me grandmother was pregnant with my uncle. My grandmother said that when she was a single mom with 2 kids (1950s), multiple ward members told her she didn’t need to come to sacrament meeting while the kids were little bc “they didn’t need it”, but she determined that she needed it and so brought her kids to Sac mtg anyway. This was in Springville, UT when Sac mtg was Sunday evening. The impression I got was it was quite common for kids to attend Primary during the week, but that little kids often stayed home from Sac mtg, that it was more of an adult mtg at the time. I could be wrong.” Nov 25, 20:32
- on Rowdy Children, Judgment, and the Foyer: “And I imagine with the TFRs of 7 in pioneer Utah, the child-to-adult ratio was much, much higher, and the consequent background noise probably much louder than what we get now–one of the consequences of us not squirreling them away in nursery during the main service like many other traditions (not that I’m saying that we should).” Nov 25, 18:55